Azure Minerals (ASX: AZS) has elected to withdraw from the acquisition of the San Francisco Manganese Project to focus on advancing its Promontorio Copper Project in Mexico.

Recent drilling at San Francisco failed to confirm extensions to the mineral resource and Azure considers the project unlikely to be of the scale required to support a significant mining and processing operation at current low manganese prices.

Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Azure could gain 100% ownership of the project for a total consideration of US$15 million to be paid across six tranches, with the first payment due on 15th December 2011.

By electing to withdraw prior to completing any acquisition payments, the project reverts to the vendor and Azure will have no further payment obligations.

Azure’s Promontorio Project remains its principal focus as the project hosts a high grade copper deposit of 502,000 tonnes at an average grade of 4.7% copper with significant 2.1 grams per tonne gold and silver (99g/t) credits.

The company has recently identified the potential for the Cascada Prospect to host a bulk-tonnage gold-silver deposit and has received drill intercepts of high grade copper mineralisation outside the existing Promontorio resource.

In addition, the company has received positive news regarding environmental approvals for intensive exploration and mine development works, all supporting further appraisal work on the project.